San Diego Comic Con: Part two!

Saturday and Sunday proved to be much busier days. Saturday we woke up early and went in for the “Adventure Time” and “Phineas and Ferb” panels. They were both great! John DiMaggio, who voices Jake the Dog and Bender from “Futurama” was on the adventure time panel. He was hilarious. They did an old timey radio script featuring the ice king, played songs from the show live and answered questions.

The panel I was really excited about, though, was the Phineas and Ferb panel. It featured both creators Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh as well as the voices of Phineas, Isabella and Perry. It was a really fun panel. Yes, the platypus noise really does come out of a human being, but man it looked like a lot of effort just to get out one growl. Watching Dan Povenmire speak as Dr. Doof was awesome, and Allyson Stoner was really funny, warning little girls who asked questions about Phineas to “Be careful now.” in Isabella's voice. We saw a few clips that are yet to be released, including a song sung by Carl the Intern.

At night we went to the Masquerade, which is a huge costume contest. I love seeing all the costumes and amazing levels of skill and detail. (the prizes are amazing, too) This group one several awards, including some for best sketch, they were very funny, and their costumes were very well done. They even included Hollywood prosthetics and makeup for some of the characters. The masquerade is hosted by the Foglio's of the popular Steampunk Web Comic “Girl Genius” They were great hosts, and usual. I love going to their booth in the dealer hall, because they are always there, super friendly, happy to give autographs and just generally fun. 

 

Of course, the movie I was most excited about  upcoming is “The Hobbit” The WB booth featured a display as well as WETA workshops, who handle a lot of the props from the movie. The WETA booth was great and featured life sized trolls, as well as displays of several of the weapons from the characters. There was a Hobbit panel in Hall H, that had Peter Jackson, and several of the actors, including Orlando Bloom, (even though Legolas is NOT in the Hobbit, and was basically added in for fan service...*grumblings of a Tolkien Purist.*) but as much as it killed me to not go, the line started somewhere around 3:30- 4:00 AM. I had a friend who got there about 5, and was so far back in line she was across the street from the convention center. No thanks. None the less YAY HOBBIT!!!!! 

 (Smaug Statue)

 

 

I spent a few days hunting down this acorn label pin. It was swag from the WB booth. Eventually after getting a lead on when they would be giving out swag, and stalking the booth for 15-20 minutes, we were able to get in line and snag the swag. We got superman t-shirts, the Hobbit pin, a ton of exclusive magazines and more pins.

Swag hunting is always a fun part of a convention. We did pretty good this year. My main score included two shirts (Superman and Iron Man) a aluminum water bottle, two pairs of sunglasses, a inflatable tomahawk from “Assassin's Creed Three” and my precious Hobbit pin. Here's a pic of the haul all together. I generally avoided things like posters and papers, because lets be honest, most of them just end up in the recycling anyway, (but I did get a couple.)

All in all it was a fun time, and we learned a ton to make next year even better!

To see day one click here.

Thanks for reading!

~By GoblinGal

WKVP78KC4WCU


#ComicCon2012 #SDCC2012

San Diego Comic Con: Part One

My second year at Comic-Con is what I would call a learning experience. It had it's ups and it's downs. Our second two days ended up much better than the first two. We got a pretty late start on Thursday, and didn't get a lot in. Lesson one. A hotel is worth it. The past two years we have spent the con with my Grandma-in-Law about 30 miles from the con. It saves us on some gas money, but still, with the drive everyday, the gas, and the parking, the idea of having a hotel within walking distance seems heavenly. My legs still haven't fully recovered from all the walking.

Lesson two: avoid ballroom 20 and Hall H on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, there weren't really very many small panels we were interested in, so we figured we'd try to get into Game of Thrones. HAH! Close but no cigar. The theme of the weekend quickly became “1 hour earlier and we would have made it in.” We kept getting right to the front of the line, just to get cut off because the room was full.*sigh*

See the problem is, Comic-Con doesn't clear the hall between panels. Why don't I like this? Well think of it this way. They expected 126,000 attendees this years. Hall H holds approximately 6,000 people. The way Comic Con does it, those 6,000 people can get in line at 5 AM and sit in HALL H all day, through 5 different panels, leaving no room for anyone else in line to get in. “So what?” you might say, “They put the time in they should get to stay.” Which would be fine, if those 6,000 people actually wanted to SEE all 5 panels. What usually ends up happening is that those 6000 people sit through 4 panels that they don't even care about, to get into the one they do. This effectively blocks thousands of people who wanted to see those other 4 panels. If they cleared the rooms between, yeah, maybe you would have to pick and choose which panels you went to, but overall way way more people would be able to get into at least one major panel.

So Thursday and Friday ended up being kinda slow for us. Mostly we wandered around the absolutely enormous dealer hall and worked the SCA Iron Brigade demos. Speaking of the SCA, G4 stopped by with Janina Gavankar from “True Blood” and did a little spot. They filmed a with our heavies fighters, it was cool to watch. (Watch it here) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK3ZuhUzQ3s Although they did insist that we are LARPers despite repeatedly trying to correct them. I guess Historical Recreation just doesn't pull ratings :P

Other celeb sightings this year included Levar Burton, David Boreanaz and Vincent Caso (Bladezz) from “The Guild.” I didn't get any autographs though, too cheap, Haha. My husband did pick up two older “Amazing Spiderman” comics though, so he is pretty psyched. Next post I will go over some more exciting stuff, the panels I went to and our great swag hunt!

~By GoblinGal




#ComicCon2012

Rough Weekend

Hey guys,

Sorry it's such a late post for reporting on Comic Con. It's been a hell of a weekend, and writing has just been impossible. It started with a huge clash with with my MiL, and then later ended with my 17 year old kitty having to go to the vet for emergency surgery. She wandered into a neighbor's yard and came back with a pretty large wound in her side. (Thus confirming my choice to NOT become a vet it looked pretty bad) She's getting out of surgery today. Ugh. Some days you just wish you could erase.  Well if anything this weekend was inspiration to work harder to help me get to where I want to be. I did have a lot of fun at Comic-Con, and the post shall be forthcoming. 

WKVP78KC4WCU 

~By GoblinGal

My Day in the Sun

Many of my weekends, especially in the summer, are spent at day tournaments with the SCA. This last Saturday was Caid Prize Tourney, which is an event to raise money for our branch. The day features competitions in several fighting forms, game booths, and perhaps the largest raffle you will ever see in your life. The coolest thing about the raffle? A great proportion of the items are hand crafted by amazingly talented people.

Now, normally I have about zero luck, but lately I have been on a streak, the likes of which have not been seen..well...ever. For example,  I have just back gotten into Magic: The Gathering, and I have pulled six mythics. This is just ridiculous. Six! (I am beginning to suspect that my new black kitten is actually bringing me good luck....perhaps I should be weighed against a wooden duck.)

ANYWAY

It ended up being an extraordinarily good day for me. I took third in Thrown Weapons, and then, low and behold, RAFFLE ITEM!

 I won this absolutely gorgeous pitcher, which was hand crafted by Master Hroar Stormgangr of “Two Hearts Entwined Pottery.” I adore pottery. A kiln is definitely on the “dream house items” list, and I would absolutely spend all day playing with clay if I could. It's even in my favorite color, purple! After the event, I went to a bacon party. That's right, bacon party. The kitchen was full of fabulous dishes all made from bacon, entrees to deserts.  All in all it was a fantastic day.

The only downside to speak of  was that I acquired a massive sunburn. My first major sunburn in all my 26 years. You see, normally I do not burn, I tan. The lesson we have learned though, folks, is that after 6 hours of throwing spears in the sun, it doesn't matter what your skin type is....you will burn. Ouch. (I think my husband, who burns all the time, may be enjoying my sunburn learning curve just a little.)


Thanks to everyone who reads! Starting Thursday I will be heading off to Comic Con. Wohoo! For geeky Comic-Con updates, check back!

More of Master Hroar's work can be found here






~By GoblinGal

#SCA #Pottery

Rolling the Dice

I got started selling crafts for a few reasons, one of them is simply, I had too much stuff! One cute stuffed crocheted cat is cute. Two is reasonable. After that I just look like the creepy stuffed cat lady, (which is slightly more creepy than a crazy cat lady with living, breathing cats.)

The first year was pretty slow. I sold a few things, and I ended up in the black, which was thrilling! I wasn't just breaking even to “support the habit” I actually made some extra cash! This year things have exploded. All of a sudden I am selling more on Etsy, and getting tons of special orders. This is new to me, too. I am a conservation bio major, who is now learning about business and business transactions.

One such thing I learned in the last week is that, sometimes less is more. Learning how to deal with negotiations and pricing can be a tricky thing to learn. What did I learn this week? Sometimes giving too much information is a bad thing. I gave the client some information because I wanted him to be informed about the breakdown of the his costs, and it backfired on me. Sometimes when you roll the dice you get a 1. Critical Fail. Ugh. I'm trying to not beat myself up too hard and just move on, but man, that account would have been fantastic for my business. This was a "next level" type of deal. Sigh. Lesson learned.

But onward and upward, and speaking of dice! As I work on getting new types of geeky crochet out there, I have been working on my crocheted D20's. It has to be my favorite thing I've made this year so far.

A friend of mine said “Hey I noticed you are making some geeky crochet, do you think you could make a D20 for a friend of mine?” To which I replied “I don't know, let's find out.”

Three experimental versions later I finally ended with this.

I was thrilled with how it turned out, her friend loved it, all was well. And then I promptly swore to never to make one again. Between fine tuning the pattern and shape and beading, I had had it. (I despise embroidery, stupid beads.)

And yet...here I am, making another one. Why? Well , in the end I just can't help it.  They're just too darn cute. My husband insisted they would probably do well, and as it turns out, I just needed a little break. Now that I have the pattern nailed down, and my beading skills have improved dramatically, I'm even finding myself rather enjoying making these guys.

So here's to rolling the the dice, may you all roll 20's.

~By GoblinGal

#D20 #D&D #Dice #Dungeons & Dragons

Welcome!

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my blog, home of my crazy crafting, latest inspirations, and of course, goblins! I am a crafter, artistic dabbler and amateur costumer. I love to do a little bit of everything, from making full ballgowns, to sculpting, to historical crafts like inkle weaving. With more hobbies than any one person needs, I often refer to it as “crafting A.D.D” In my spare time I often play as Lady Dyrfinna Drengsdottir in the SCA , a medieval recreation society, am an avid gamer and enormous book worm. Nature and fantasy hold great inspiration for me, and I am currently working on finishing a degree in conservation biology.

Here I hope to post my latest projects, inspirations and because I probably just can't help it, a rambling rant or two!

I run an Etsy at http://www.etsy.com/shop/shroudedgrove as well as a website http://www.shroudedgrove.com and a Facebook page

I hope to see you all soon, and here, as I promised! Goblin!!

This is my Kitchen Cerench Goblin, a limited Brian Froud Plush that was put out by FAO Schwartz a few years ago! I love her so much!! I am hoping to be able to improve my crocheting or sewing skills enough to make more little goblins to scamper around my house.

~By GoblinGal